YSK that OverDrive (developer of Libby) is a private for-profit company that makes obscene amounts of money. Pretty much a prime example of private-public “partnership” taking taxpayer money.
Before COVID, they made enough to pay each of their ~300 employees half a million dollars. This figure increased during COVID. Guess who got bonuses? Not regular employees.
OverDrive charges 30% overhead on top of publisher prices (which are usually already up to 4x higher for libraries)
They criticize some publishers, but publisher raising prices conveniently plays into their hand. Publishers’ abusive “borrowing” models, such as limited “digital copies” or “pay-per-borrow” still work for OverDrive (see above)
They were one of the first to market and are vertically integrated: they own the marketplace to purchase titles from publishers,
hosting of titles, and the application. This is easy for clients (libraries), but difficult to switch away from.
They partner with LexisNexis, who has been collaborating with ICE for deportations.
Many of their employees are former teachers, and with miserly teacher salaries in Ohio, it’s another convenience to hire knowledgeable people for cheap.
YSK that OverDrive (developer of Libby) is a private for-profit company that makes obscene amounts of money. Pretty much a prime example of private-public “partnership” taking taxpayer money.
Well carp.